Gênero: as organizações femininas e o trabalho educacional e missionário no antigo Norte de Goiás

Abstract

This article aims to deepen studies on the means of social and evangelizing action by Baptist missionaries in old Northern Goiás. It seeks to understand how this space was configured as a stage for important changes in the way women’s participation was seen and evaluated within this denomination. Because changes in the organization of social relations always correspond to changes in representations of power, the view of women within the Baptist Church – as well as the way women are viewed in the social world – undergoes a modification from the moment women actively position themselves as missionaries. This deconstructs the conception of women as solely spouse and mother, and substituted it with an idea of women as not just spouse and mother, but also as teacher, missionary and, in certain cases, as single, female missionaries.